Six inches a significant difference

Six inches.

That's how close Palatine believes it should have been to potentially pulling an upset that would have put it back on the high school football map.

And that's how close Rolling Meadows was to possibly falling off the top of the Class 7A heap in its home opener Friday night.

With 28 seconds to play, a big heap of players converged on Palatine quarterback Matt Rossi's attempted fourth-and-goal plunge from inside the Meadows 1.

The officials also converged with no immediate signals. Then Ernie Woodbury and Paul Hames emerged from the pile with a ball that was spotted a mere six inches from the goal line.

And Meadows' fans erupted as the state's top-ranked 7A team escaped with a 21-14 victory.

"I was just waiting to see what happened," said Hames, who was part of a front-line surge with Woodbury, T.J. Kropp and Ricky Allala. "When they put the ball in front of the goal line I was just ecstatic."

The same couldn't be said for Palatine, which thought Rossi had leaned far enough to be at least six inches in the end zone.

"It's tough," said Palatine coach Tyler Donnelly of a 1-2 team that's a few feet from being 3-0 with a 14-13 opening loss to Lake Forest.

"I thought he was in," said junior safety Jack Hansen, whose 60-yard interception return brought Palatine within 21-14 with 6:53 left. "I felt like they were just jumping on and pushing back.

"But there's nothing we could do about it. We've got to come back next week and get a win."

Meadows showed plenty of fortitude in getting its third win as Kelly Jauch and Stan Pheteau were able to keep Rossi from hitting the pylon on a third-and-goal run.

But there were greater lessons amidst the glow of victory as Palatine's final drive from its 17 was aided by two pass interference penalties.

"This should have never happened," Hames said. "We weren't disciplined, we were missing tackles and we weren't doing our responsibilities.

"Everybody has to buy into what the coaches are saying. They're right. We're doing the exact same stuff as last year and we're just not executing.

"It's a wakeup call that any given team can beat us any given day."

And Palatine showed it's no longer a team anyone can just figure on beating with a visit to Prospect up next week.

"They weren't intimidated," Donnelly said.

"I feel like we can play with the best teams in the state now," Hansen said. "We have a chance to go to the playoffs, definitely, because we play as a team."

One that doesn't plan to let half a foot ruin its season.